Exploring Folk Fiddle - An Introduction to Folk Styles, Technique and Improvisation

Folk fiddle and classical violin are as different as chalk and cheese. At first glance, folk might seem so simple it's hardly worth bothering with. The tunes are often no more than 32 bars long, they stay in first position, and they don't even have a composer. However, it's what's NOT written on the page that makes folk fiddle so interesting and challenging.

This book attempts to explore, from general observation down to the finest detail, what the fiddler needs to know to bring these tunes alive. We need to understand their history and context, their purpose, their structure and pulse. And we need to be able to add all the stylistic elements that come not from reading the music, but from years of immersion in folk music, both listening and playing.

Key areas covered include:

• Tune types and structures
• Ornamentation
• Bowing
• Modes and scales
• Scordatura
• Starts, endings and links
• Variation, improvisation and composition Playing tunes in “sets”
• Regional and individual style
• Playing in sessions, for contests, and for dancing

Introduction

Tune Types

More Tune Types and Structures

Ornamentation

Bowing

Modes and Scales

East European, Klezmer and Untempered Scales

Tunings

What's Missing? Variation, Improvisation and Composition

The Joy Of Sets

Playing For Dancing

Odds And Ends